1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an occupant restraint system in which an air bag in a folded state is arranged in such a manner as to extend along a side portion of a roof, so that, when a vehicle is involved in a collision, the air bag is inflated with a gas generated by an inflator so as to be deployed in a curtain-like fashion along an inner surface of a side portion of a passenger compartment.
2. Description of the Related Art
The occupant restraint system is known by JP-A-2001-39260. In this occupant restraint system, when the folded air bag arranged in such a manner as to extend along the side portion of the roof is deployed downwardly along a center pillar (a B pillar), the air bag may be caught at an upper end of the pillar garnish which covers the side of the center pillar which faces the passenger compartment, and the pillar garnish is dislocated from the center pillar, whereby the smooth deployment of the air bag is interrupted. In order to prevent this, straps on bridges formed on an inner surface of the pillar garnish are locked at first ends thereof to upper and lower ends of the pillar garnish and are fixed at the other ends thereof to a vehicle body side with bolts.
Incidentally, with the related-art occupant restraint system, the complex construction of the bridge on the pillar garnish has not only made the mold for the pillar garnish expensive to thereby cause a problem that the production costs are increased, but has also required special components such as the straps and bolts to thereby cause a problem that the number of components is increased.